Paradoxical
by taengerine
Summary: It was seemingly contradictory, but true nonetheless. NiouxOC.
1. Prologue

_A/N: First fic! NiouxOC. I'm a little nervous. Hope it's not too bad though :P_

_Disclaimer: Only Mia's mine. Although I wouldn't mind owning Niou :)_

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Prologue

I still remember his reaction the first time I met him, and Niou being Niou, it wasn't so much a polite housewarming greeting as a disgusted "Ugh, it's a girl?!" and stomping back inside his house.

My family had just moved into the house next to his. Granted, our house wasn't the most showy or stylish, but it was a house nonetheless. Besides, I (being all of 9 years old) was proud to enter the famed Rikkai school system.

I definitely remember how his hair was still black back then- although it resembled a patch of tangled seaweed (somehow similar to Kirihara's). And although the entire neighborhood got a shock when his hair suddenly turned white one day, people took it better than was expected- simply because it was _Niou_, who defied every rule and sense of logic ever ingrained in me.

We didn't have many encounters the first few years after I'd moved in. He just knew that I was Nishikawa Mia, and saw me as the typical nice and smart next-door-neighbor girl who happened to be in the same grade as him. He ignored me and avoided me whenever possible, and when we were forced to meet face-to-face, he always, _always_ managed to slip in some variation of the remark that "girls were useless".

Needless to say, I found him very irritating at the time.

So of course, I had no idea what was wrong with me when I found myself wanting to know more about him. What did he like to do? What was his family like? Who were his friends (I wasn't in his class until our last year of junior high, and he usually came home late)? I just passed off my curiosity as the ever-present "Nishikawa-Mia-asks-too-many-questions-and-wants-to-know-too-much" disease my parents swore I had, and with the help of my humongous window, began to observe him.

I suppose that's when Niou Masaharu started becoming an important person in my life.

It wasn't stalkerish. Really. It wasn't. I merely saw his daily coming and goings every day. I noticed how he lugged a tennis bag to and from school. I heard how he slammed his front door whenever he was angry at his family- once even shouting "Baka Tou-san!" at the top of his lungs- before running off and disappearing down the street. And I always watched with interest when a certain purple-haired fellow would visit for long periods of time, and astonishment, when occasionally 2 of the same person would emerge after a while.

In this way, I gleaned more information on Niou than he'd ever want me to know, all the while staying behind the scenes. I wondered if it was normal to feel like a triumphant American FBI agent.

But that was all part of the past, and I smiled slightly as I recalled everything leading up to the present. _Things have changed since then, ne, Niou?_

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_A/N: Yes, 2 Yagyuu's or 2 Niou's came out, not one of each. I'm fitting that explanation into a later chapter :) _

_Please review! I'd love you if you did._


	2. Chapter 1

_A/N: Mia's in her 3__rd__ year of middle school now (she and Niou are in the same class). _

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed! –throws cookies- Also:_

_**KiriharaAkaya**__: Thanks lots :D I hope this doesn't turn out Mary Sue, and please tell me if my characters are getting OOC ;) _

_**Batool**__: I'm too fond of happy endings to make my stories end otherwise. And I love Niou too much to put him through anything too horrible xD_

_And apologies to __**kp-sama: **__This chapter's pretty short, but I promise the next one will be longer!_

_Ok, I admit it. I don't know which Rikkai boy is in whose class D: Here, though, Mia, Niou, Yagyuu, and Yanagi are in the same class, while the others are...somewhere else :P_

_Disclaimer: Only Mia's mine. Although I wouldn't mind owning Niou :)_

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Chapter 1

Aghast, I looked at the math test sensei had just handed back. Actually, it was more a dumbfounded stare than anything else. _A 58_, my mind registered dimly. _58. Kaa-san's not going to take this well._

I didn't get it. I was usually a good student (although Yanagi would raise an eyebrow at that), but recently I'd started getting a series of…less-than-desirable scores in math. This 58 was the newest in my growing collection of failing grades. Scanning my test, I reluctantly looked up when Hiroka-sensei cleared his throat, only to look back down after figuring he'd go into another one of his 15-minute lectures again.

I wasn't disappointed. "I know this was a hard test, but I honestly expected better from everyone." His voice was already shifting into his familiar monotone. "Only a few of you got decent scores, and…"

I looked around the room to see how many people were starting to fall asleep, and glanced over at Niou, who was sitting a few rows over from mine. He was fiddling with his ponytail and his head was tilted a little to the side as he watched Hiroka-sensei, looking for all the world as if he were carefully appraising him. Knowing Niou though, it could either be that, or something else entirely different. One could never tell with him.

Moving on, I saw Yagyuu sitting straight up with all his attention focused on sensei. I snorted. How typical. Left of him, Yanagi was scribbling furiously in his notebook, and some others were--

I yelped when something jabbed me in the side _hard_, and glared balefully at Mimaki Kana, my seating partner and soon-to-be-ex best friend if she kept the stabbing thing up. She smiled innocently at me before asking, "What'd you get on the test?"

Heh. Like I was going to publicize that.

"Er…" I tried to skirt the question, not really wanting to tell her. My eyes wandered around the room again, looking for something inspirational to say. "It wasn't that great." Niou was now digging through his bag for something. Yagyuu's back was probably permanently set in that one position.

"Did you get another bad grade?" Kana's voice was faintly accusatory. She knew about my current stupid luck in math.

Yanagi's pencil was going to break soon if he kept wearing it down like that. "Well…I could've gotten better," I replied vaguely.

Kana sighed, knowing I was too stubborn to reveal something when I didn't want to, and gave up for the time being.

This had a negative effect on me, however. As soon as she stopped talking, my eyelids began drooping. I really did try to keep them open. It certainly wasn't my fault that Kami-sama had blessed Hiroka-sensei with such a sleep-inducing voice…

Several screams jolted me back into the world, and I was instantly awake again. The first thing I noticed was that some of the girls (and a few boys) were standing on their chairs and desks- plus Hiroka-sensei. The second thing was that Niou was wearing his infamous smirk again, and seemed just a tad bit _too_ calm with so much commotion around him.

"What the…?" I muttered, eyeing him suspiciously. Pushing people out of way, I struggled to the front of the classroom to see what was causing all the hysteria- and abruptly froze when I did.

Lying on the floor was a gigantic spider with proportions that probably belonged more to prehistoric eras than now. It looked like a tarantula…except didn't tarantulas have hair? I shuddered as its eight legs shifted it slightly to the side, and all of its eyes seemed to glint right at me.

No doubt as to who had pulled this one off.

Feeling nausea buildup inside of me, I fell back into the crowd, not wanting to look at the grotesque creature any longer. Kana saw me approach, and she made a face. "Did you see it?"

I nodded wordlessly, lest I get sick right there. That wouldn't be too good. No one needed to know I had arachnophobia.

The bell rang, and a mad dash for the door ensued.

Hiroka-sensei pinpointed me from where he was still standing on his rolling chair, and weakly called out, "Nishikawa-san, I'd like to see you tomorrow morning before class, please."

"…Hai, sensei."

Then again, that probably wasn't too good either.

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_A/N: Ehehe…I don't know if what I write even makes sense half the time xO Hopefully it does. __But please review! I'd love anyone who did :)_


	3. Chapter 2

_A/N: Another chapter! This one is a little longer, as I promised, but there's not as much Niou-ness as you might expect :_

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed! __**Batool, Kisaratezuka, **__and __**Nightshade Shrub**__, here's your update :D_

_Disclaimer: Only Mia's mine. Although I wouldn't mind owning Niou :)_

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Chapter 2

The next morning, I was up bright and early just to get ready for my meeting with Hiroka-sensei- a meeting that I dreaded on the inside. I'd contemplated not going, but Kaa-san threatened me with hints that she had something resembling a wooden paddle stored somewhere, and I'd left, feeling ridiculously young again.

-----

I'd meekly told Tou-san my math grade the night before, praying he'd be discrete and not tell Kaa-san…but he'd suddenly become a traitor of a father and told her over dinner anyway. I supposed that was rather considerate of him to inform her at a place where she couldn't directly launch into her Angry Mother mode, but after dinner was an entirely different story.

That night, I learned the meaning of courage. I withstood her "I Thought You Were a Good Student!" rant, braved it through her "Why Didn't You Learn After The Last 3 Grades?!" tirade, and suffered while she gave her "You'll Never Amount To Anything If You Keep This Up!" lecture. I finally took a peek at her when I sensed she was winding down. Kaa-san was petite, but when she was mad, she looked all of 7 feet tall.

She huffed out a big breath. "You said you were going to go see your teacher tomorrow morning?"

"..."

"What for?" Of course she knew I had a meeting with him. I'd only mumbled it once (nearly too softly for even my own ears) while she'd still been angry, but Kaa-san was inhumanly perceptive when it came to things like that.

"Eh…"

"Yes?" She sounded almost back to normal now, and I quickly decided that it was safe to talk again.

"I guess he wanted to talk to me about my math scores." I tried to speak quietly, just in case the words "math scores" would set her off again.

She seemed to be sufficiently calmed down though, and I took the chance to straighten up from my previously slouched position. Being the victim of my mother's anger made me feel like a turtle- I wanted to draw in all my limbs from the potential danger. Unfortunately, I didn't have a shell. Tou-san had also conveniently vanished right after dinner.

"Well, you just tell him that you're willing to do anything to get your grades back up," she now said stoutly.

"…Anything?" I gulped. With Kaa-san, that could mean a lot of things.

"Anything," she firmly stated. I envisioned myself sacrificing my social life, or never sleeping anymore, or chopping off my hair, or…

I groaned and cursed Kami-sama for giving me such bad luck.

-----

Closing the front door behind me the next morning, I noticed Niou turning the street corner ahead of me, also going to school. _Oh right. He probably has tennis practice_, I remembered, although not sure if he usually left this early. However, I promptly forgot him when I found that my key wasn't turning in the lock. No amount of effort on my part would get it to, either, and it was only several kicks and one rather dented door later that I discovered I was using the wrong key.

I swore when I realized that I was also going to be late in meeting Hiroka-sensei. If there was anything the man detested, it was being tardy.

-----

Running full-speed definitely didn't help your appearance when you were already 10 minutes late, I decided while racing to Rikkai. The few students that were there stared at me as I dashed upstairs to my classroom. The door was pushed open haphazardly as I rapidly tried to fix my uniform at the same time, but I didn't care about that. Doors were now a personal enemy of mine.

"Sumimasen, sensei!" I gasped as I tried to catch my breath, and bowed deeply. "I know I'm really late and everything, but--" I stopped short when I straightened up and saw that the teacher wasn't the only one in the room. Niou was also there, casting me a strange look, and I immediately felt uncomfortable. He wasn't going to sit there while sensei and I talked, was he?

I didn't know how wrong I was.

"Ah, Nishikawa-san!" Hiroka-sensei beamed at me, and that right there was a reason be suspicious. He was…happy? After I was a blatant 10 minutes late? I was baffled.

Sensei leaned forward in his chair, and as I took my seat I briefly wondered what'd happened to the spider before paying attention again. "Nishikawa-san, I'm actually quite glad you came today." I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

He went on. "I've been very concerned over your last few test grades, and I certainly didn't want such a bright student like you to continue on this way."

I nodded again, and tried to think of something more…intelligent that a "bright student" would do or say. The only thing I could think of was "_Why. Isn't. Niou. Leaving._" I wasn't entirely sure that that was proper though, so I just stayed silent.

"I don't like it when my students get failing grades, Nishikawa-san. If I recall correctly…"

If he recalled correctly, he'd be stating my grades for Niou to hear. I really wished sensei would shut up right now. No matter how bad Niou's grades could be, they had to be passing if he was still on the tennis team. I didn't want my grades being publicly announced. It was a good thing I was sitting in front of Niou where I couldn't see him, as it made it easier to pretend he wasn't there.

"However, Niou-san's test grades have been remarkably high, even if he never turns in his homework." His voice sounded a little incredulous, and I had to admit, I was hard-pressed to believe him. Niou getting good grades? That was a new one. It didn't need to be said that he was the prankster of the whole school…and pranksters got bad grades, right?

"Niou-san's really quite smart, and so…" What? Had I just heard him correctly? Niou and smart in the same sentence? I blinked. In the 5 years I'd been his neighbor, I'd never really seen him do anything remotely smart. Unless you counted setting off fireworks to help him launch one of his hand-made rockets. But I didn't. That wasn't smart, just insane. The tree the rocket had landed on had caught on fire.

"…and so, I was thinking he could tutor you in math." Hiroka-sensei was smiling cheerfully.

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed, and jumped up from my seat before I knew what I was doing. My brain was reeling. Maybe I was going deaf. Maybe I needed hearing aids. If hearing aids prevented you from having life-threatening heart attacks, I'd stop by the drugstore first thing after school. Seeing sensei's startled expression, however, I difficultly sat back down.

"I said, Niou-san can help you in math," Hiroka-sensei repeated patiently.

Nope. Not deaf after all. That possibility was out. And that had been my only possibility too. I felt like weeping, and carefully avoided looking at Niou.

"Ano, sensei. I…don't think that would be…the best idea," I choked out nervously. There were better people than Niou to teach me anyway, if I was really supposed to accept his idea of me being tutored. Like Yanagi. Or Yagyuu. Or even Yukimura. I'd heard he was brilliant at everything, and super nice too. Any of them sounded better than what Hiroka-sensei was currently offering me.

Said sensei looked genuinely confused. "And why not?"

"Well," I scrambled around for a reasonable answer, but couldn't think of one. "What about other people? Like…" And I listed the 3 people I'd thought of before who'd I'd rather have as tutors.

His brow furrowed, and replied, "You know, Nishikawa-san, I actually asked Yukimura-san about this." My spirits lifted exponentially. "Except he said something about how you and Niou-san live near each other, so I really thought that would work out the best."

_Baka Yukimura_.

Sensei began organizing papers as he saw the time, but I was still unclear on one point.

"One more thing, sensei."

He turned back. "Yes?"

"Why was Niou-kun here?" Throughout the conversation, I'd been waiting for Niou to jump in and make some snarky comment, yet it hadn't happened. I'd almost forgotten he was there, with how quiet he was being for once.

"Oh, well." Hiroka-sensei coughed. "I thought he might like to join in the conversation, but I guess he didn't really need to come after all. My apologies, Niou-san."

I would've throttled the both of them (Sensei for discussing my abominable grades with Niou listening, and Niou for…being Niou), had school not started just then.

-----

I hurried to catch up with the white-haired boy after class, determined to find out something that had been bothering me all day. "Ne, Niou-kun. What'd you even get on the math test anyway?"

He smirked down at me, and I noticed for the first time that he had vivid blue eyes. "Jealous, Nishikawa? 105. I got the bonus," he answered carelessly before walking out and leaving me gaping after him.

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_A/N: Yup, Niou's good at making people think he's stupid :P But that's why we all love him, ne?_

_Please review! I'll love you forever :)_


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N: Sorry for the long delay! For those who didn't see my profile, I've been busy with exams lately…but they're over now! So here's a chapter to celebrate:D _

_Disclaimer: All PoT characters are not mine. Although I wouldn't mind owning Niou :)_

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Chapter 3

Kaa-san had agreed whole-heartedly with the idea of tutoring, not even pausing to consider what it insult it was to me that her "bright" child had now fallen to point of needing personal help. However, her eyebrows had gone up to alarming heights when I reported that my tutor was to be none other than Niou Masaharu.

"That boy next door?! Are you sure?" she kept asking me worriedly. "I'm not too fond of him. Have you _seen_ his hair!" She fretted nonstop over this new predicament.

I was beginning to regret telling her any of this in the first place. For one thing, whenever she talked to me I always had to have a ready answer of "Yes, Niou-kun lives next door. Yes, I'm sure. Yes, I see his hair every day." on hand. Her worrying spread over to me in the form of irritableness, and I had to watch my tone of voice when I tried to reassure her that he'd in fact gotten a 105 on the test I'd pulled off with a 58.

She didn't control her surprise any better than I did, I noticed with some satisfaction. After I'd told her, she'd dropped the heavy metal cooking pot she had been holding at the time.

At school, I couldn't seem to find time to talk to Niou anywhere. I usually arrived in the morning with just a minute to spare, so I couldn't talk to him then. At break, he was always the first one out the door, only to come sauntering back in right before class started again. I took a long time packing up after school, and by the time I was done, he'd long since disappeared. All in all, I was extremely frustrated. If he was going to tutor me, he had to talk to me first!

I wasn't desperate enough to go over to his house, knock on his door, and personally ask for his help…yet.

Kana noticed me seething one day after lunch break- another lunch break filled with failed attempts at finding the stupid trickster. "What's wrong?"

"Niou-kun," I griped. I hadn't yet told her about how he was supposed to help me in math, but I supposed now was a good time as any. The more people who knew about my miserable plight, the better.

As I quickly related earlier events and complained to her that normal tutors were _nice_ and _accommodating_, her eyes widened in the usual response. "Hiroka-sensei said Niou-san was good at math?" she asked doubtfully, glancing over. My eyes flickered over to the baka as well, trying to ignore the surge of annoyance the sight of him caused. He was just sitting there, looking utterly bored as he took in Yakaze-sensei's teachings without even lifting up a pencil. I gritted my teeth and turned back.

"Anyway, math is probably the only thing he's good at," I commented snidely. "That's the only thing you don't really have to study for. He's probably nearly failing everything else, the way he doesn't pay attention…" My hate rant continued, and I was still raging when Kana looked up in apprehension and poked me. "Ne, Mia."

I blinked and stopped talking when I saw someone tall standing in front of my desk. Niou's shadow loomed over me, and the tips of his spiky hair reflected the fluorescent light overhead. What was he doing getting up in the middle of class?

"Yo."

The back of my mind suddenly remembered that the bell had rung while I'd been fuming.

"Uh…hi." I wasn't exactly sure what he was leading to though.

"I'm only free after tennis practice. And it can't be too late."

"…Huh?" I withered inside as I heard my own witty reply.

He sighed a sigh of long suffering. "Choose a time between 6 and 11."

My mind finally caught up to the moment, and I blurted out "Oh! You mean the tutoring!" before flushing. _The one time I'm not actively looking for him, he catches me off-guard._ "What about 8, then?" I ventured, trying to sound as if I'd known what was going on the whole time. Yup. Confident. That was me.

He made a sound similar to a grunt before turning to leave.

"Hey, wait!" I grabbed his sleeve to make him stop, but immediately released him when his eyes flashed angrily. I didn't lose my nerve though. "You still haven't said whose house," I pointed out.

For some reason, I wanted to talk to him more. I saw how he was so casual to the guys and flirted with some of the other girls, and I wanted him to show anything other than total indifference towards me.

"Yours. Tonight," he tossed back instantly, not even giving it a moment's consideration, and I instead decided right there that he had to be the rudest, most insensitive person in the world. If he thought he could just filch into my house like that then, well, he had another think coming.

He waited for some sort of response. When he saw that I was definitely _not_ going to give him one he shrugged, reshouldered his bag, and strolled out of room, not taking a look back. If he had, he would've seen the evil eye I was pinning on him.

Man, stupid white-haired jerks really irritated me.

xxxxx

School let out at 4. There were still four more hours until Niou came to my house (for the first time, too), but by the time I got home I was anticipating his visit with mixed feelings. I wasn't sure if I was nervous that the famed Trickster was coming over, or annoyed that said Trickster was supposed to actually tutor me, or just resentful that he'd been hiding some sort of mathematical genius from everyone all along. _Then again, it's the kind of thing he would do_.

If I had only known how _exasperating_ study sessions with Niou Masaharu could be.

By 6, I'd finished all my other homework.

By 7, I was tidying up the house, trying not to think too much about tennis playing teenage boys who looked like juvenile delinquents.

By 8, I was sitting pretty in my room, at my desk, on my chair. A list of the night's math homework was next to me, and waiting for him to show up seemed the only thing to do.

By 8:15, I was still waiting.

At 8:25, Kaa-san poked her head in my room to find me bored and doodling in my notebook. "He's still not here?" She clucked disapprovingly. "I always knew that boy was no good," she sniffed before leaving.

However, five minutes later the doorbell rang, and I tore downstairs, ready to give Niou a piece of my mind. Tou-san looked surprised in how eager I seemed.

Throwing open the door, I definitely wasn't expecting the heavy parcel that was thrust into my arms. Upon closer examination, I realized it was Niou's school bag, and judged there were at least 3 textbooks inside from the way my muscles were already dying from the weight.

I glared upwards into blue orbs. "You're half an hour late."

Of course his reply would only be a nonchalant, "Sorry. Tennis practice took a long time."

His bag was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor as I stormed back upstairs after hearing his excuse, leaving him to navigate his way up himself. The telling-off I'd been planning to give him dissolved as disbelief over his open disregard of appointments had set in. I considered locking the door to my room so he couldn't get in, before thinking that that might not be the best way to start things.

_Not that things have going well anyway_, I grouched.

I stared at him when he entered, feeling something was off, but not quite able to put my finger upon it. However, that train of thought was put off as he dropped his load of books on my desk and proceeded to sprawl across my bed.

That was a little too much.

"Niou-kun," I tried to keep my voice polite.

"Yeah?"

"Your books are on my table. And I just made that bed."

"Ok." He didn't budge.

I ground my teeth. "I need to _use_ my table. And you're messing up all the covers, baka!" My frustration was accentuated with a sharp kick to the side of the bed, which only stubbed my toe.

He lazily raised his head an inch from the pillow. "Nishikawa, you're going to mess them up when you sleep anyway. I'm just helping you save a few calories."

I felt nettled in as his more-than-logical-answer added to my throbbing toe, but I wasn't going to admit that to him any time soon. "I don't _need_ you helping--" It suddenly struck me, the thing that I'd felt was different. "Hey, you're not wearing your uniform!"

From the expression on his face, I could almost hear the _What the fuck? _running through his head. "I'm not in school," came the flat response.

I tilted my head, anger momentarily forgotten, as I considered the change. It wasn't really a significant one; I usually only saw him when he had his Rikkai uniform on, but with the plain white t-shirt and jeans he had on now, he looked…nicer, somehow. More normal. Less menacing.

"I know I'm really good-looking and everything, but I'm not here for you to stare at me," a voice drawled out in the silence.

I jumped and blushed at being caught so obviously, then hastily started working on math after shoving his textbooks to the floor.

xxxxx

An hour later, I'd only completed half the problems, due to all _someone's_ inane comments that seemed to mostly be about tennis and…switching? My head had started to hurt, and his useless remarks had not helped the fact that I didn't know the material too well in the first place.

Regardless, I stuck my paper in his face. "Are these right?"

He was blessedly quiet as he checked the work I handed him, and I took the time to do some mental yoga. I really didn't understand why Niou had agreed to this in the first place, especially when I could tell he didn't want to be here either.

He looked up. "Oi, Nishikawa. I thought you were smart."

Trust me when I say I was taken aback. Grabbing the paper back from him and ignoring his little smirk, I started going through my own work. "Which one did I miss?"

He yawned. "Number 5 was the only one you got right."

"What?!"

xxxxx

Another hour later, I thought I deserved some kind of award for suffering through everything I had. After I'd corrected the problems I'd missed, Niou, the idiot, had made me do them over again- twice. I finally collapsed back into my chair when he'd finished checking all my answers. Didn't Sanada do things like this to people on the tennis team? Niou probably picked up his slavedriver tendencies from him.

He also hadn't moved from my bed the entire two hours, and was only now packing up all his belongings.

I picked idly at a loose string on my quilt, and tried to start a conversation for the time being. "Why'd you bring all your stuff when you didn't even do anything?"

"So your parents would think I was doing something," was the prompt response.

I let that sit and didn't look at him, in case he made another remark that I was "staring at his good looks" or whatever rubbish. "Do you even like math?"

He stood up, hoisted his bag onto his shoulder as he got ready to go, and gave me a funny smirk. Or was it a smirk? It looked more like a combination between that and a smile.

"It's my favorite subject."

Then he shut the door, and I was left to ponder the confusing enigma that was Niou Masaharu.

I felt the familiar sense of déjà vu.

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_A/N: Yep. Niou doesn't really pay much attention to Mia cause he just thinks of her as a neighbor. Poor girl._

_Please review! I'll love you for it :)_

_Thanks for waiting such a long time for this chap!_


	5. Chapter 4

_A/N: Thanks loads for everyone who reviewed: **Alluna**, **alishoane**, **Lyuna,** **Shiraishi-K**, **xxkoffeexx,** **gold.paperclips**, **Garowyn**, **Nyleva**, **PlacidRascal**, **Calliope Medina Erato**, **Me want mochi,** **awin-chan**, **Flarire,** and **Batool.** Your comments are love :D_

_Disclaimer: Only Mia's mine. Although I wouldn't mind owning Niou :)_

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Chapter 4

Having arrived early to school for once, I immediately set out for the courtyard where Kana would mostly likely be, ready to tell her about the events of last night. However, I didn't see her as I hunted through the throngs of people and, ready to call it quits, decided I might as well go up to my classroom.

Sweeping past the tennis courts on my way, I then heard a loud cry of "Mia-a-a!" before being attacked in a ferocious hug and firmly pushed in one direction. Blinking, I tried to process what was going on before realizing that it was just Kana alternating between insistently pushing and dragging me towards the courts.

"What are you doing?" I complained, half-heartedly trying to dig my feet in the ground to make her stop, even though that only resulted in making the bottom of my pants dusty. She didn't usually show this much excitement over things, and while I was totally clueless as to what was happening, I had to admit I was a little (just a _little_) intrigued.

She didn't bother in supplying me with an answer though, and the farther she dragged me, the grumpier I got, and the dirtier my pants became. I was too busy attempting to slow down her march to notice when we finally stopped, and only looked up when she demanded impatiently, "Stop acting like a donkey. Look."

My head automatically turned to where her finger was pointing and saw…

...nothing of interest.

Well, other than the Rikkai tennis team members inside the fence, nothing.

I couldn't really believe she'd made me come all this way to gawk at eight sweaty teenage boys, but decided to play along anyway, if only to humor her.

"They look lovely," I nodded emphatically, hoping she'd see that I really agreed with her. Of course there couldn't be any better sight in the world than watching tennis players being camels and gulping down tankards of water.

However, my dear friend just stamped her foot at my comment. _Maybe that was the wrong thing to say,_ I mused.

"No, you have to _watch_ them," she now stressed in annoyance.

"Alright, then." I turned back to peer through the chain-link fence in total obedience, but the guys didn't do much besides shuffle around a bit. Wondering what in the world I was really supposed to be looking at, I inadvertently spotted other students milling around the courts, gazing intently at the Regulars. Most of them, funnily enough, were also girls. Girls who were bearing signs with slogans like "Yukimura is the coolest!!" and "I love you Yagyuu-sama!!"

Please.

Not wishing to be taken as a vicious-but-signless fangirl, I sighed and faced Kana. She was a great friend, but apparently she had her secrets too, i.e. fangirling tennis players.

"Ok, Kana. I didn't know you loved tennis so much, but honestly, I don't know (or care) a lot about it, so if you don't mind, I'm just going to go up to homeroom and clean my uniform off--"

I was surprised when she grabbed me by the shoulders and abruptly whirled me around. Not expecting this, I nearly crashed into the fence, saved face-slamming by unthinkingly propelling myself off of it with my hands, and promptly fell onto the hard-packed dirt.

However, my smarting behind was ignored as I viewed the new development in front of me with something like awe.

In the duration of two minutes, the Regulars had gone from exhausted, water-guzzling lumps to…this. It was hard to describe them as a group since they were all so different. They were starting another rally now, and to my untrained eyes, I couldn't really spot a difference between their playing and that of professionals. Jackal looked indestructible when he angrily shouted English words as he now bludgeoned the tiny yellow ball, Marui's eyes twinkled gleefully as he did some fancy maneuver, and Kirihara's laughter sounded demonic as he whacked the tennis ball over the net and somehow made it magically disappear for a moment. Sanada looked stern and forbidding as always, and Yagyuu and Yukimura both had the same fluid grace, although Yagyuu's was more elegant while Yukimura's was more beautiful and precise. Yanagi reminded me bizarrely of a robot when he determined his opponent's every move, but Niou was honestly the one that fascinated me the most.

I'd heard countless stories of how unpredictable he was in school, but I saw how this carried over to his tennis as well. Every one of his shots was different in a certain way, and he looked positively stealthy, calculating, _dangerous,_ as he seemed to weave in and out of thin air itself.

"Suge," I whispered breathlessly. There were no other ways to put into words what I was feeling at the moment.

Kana grinned, having finally showed me what she wanted me to see. "Isn't that so awesome, how they can play like that? I heard some of them could even go pro! You've never seen them play tennis before, have you?"

Still mesmerized by how _surreal_ they all seemed, I shook my head. It was strange, I reflected, how I'd known most of them for several years, yet had never seen a single one of them play tennis. Not even Niou. Come to think of it, no wonder they had so many fan(girl)s.

Speaking of Niou…

The smirk that was currently hovering on his lips had been there for a while now, and the pair he was playing against was clearly lost in how to deal with him. _He really is a trickster_, I marveled. He'd rush forward to the net, ready to volley, only to fall back at the last minute and let Yagyuu take it. He'd jump up(_can people seriously jump that high?_ I goggled), completely in position for a smash, only to lower his racket right before it connected, once again giving Yagyuu the ball. And Yagyuu himself? He wasn't exactly innocent of deception either- he'd pull off the same stunts as Niou, just less in frequency.

I almost wished some could read me as well as they read each other.

Dismissing the random thought as just something staring at Niou and Yagyuu for too long could cause, I stood there, scuffed shoes and dusty pants and all, until the eight eventually started cooling down from their rigorous morning practice. _And that was just a practice!_ I kept on reminding myself. If that was how they practiced, then I wished a lot of luck for whoever they played against in tournaments. A lot.

Still hazy from the spectacular array of tricks I'd just seen, I turned to leave, only to find a Kana that had disappeared without my knowing. Dimly ruffled that she hadn't waited for me, I slowly began my trek to where I should've been 20 minutes ago, still brooding about what I'd just seen. Of course, Niou and Yagyuu had won their match, I noted with a little pride- which I immediately squashed. Sanada was now officially a beast in my mind, and Yukimura…didn't even need to be talked about.

Speak of the devil.

"Nishikawa-san," a soft voice called behind me. Glancing back behind me, I bemusedly watched the boy I'd just been thinking about fall into step with me. With his gentle smile on his face though, I couldn't help but smile back as I temporarily put off all my thoughts that were flurrying around. I didn't know what it was, but there was just something about him that made one calm and relaxed and…

I breathed in deeply. I felt more serene already.

"Nishikawa-san, could you please do me a favor?"

"Sure," I agreed instantly, wondering if anyone could _not_ do him something, nice and brilliant as he was.

"Could you tell Niou that I've just decided to make practice longer today? I'd appreciate it greatly," he beamed in a distinctly Yukimura-ish way.

"Ok." I could do that, even if I didn't want to talk to Niou more than was absolutely necessary. Thinking that was all I rounded the corner into the hallway where my classroom was, but Yukimura stopped, not quite done yet. I looked back at him questioningly.

"Another thing. Niou happens to like sweet potato Pocky," he remarked off-handedly, though his eyes had a mischievous twinkle to them.

My brain seemed to be abnormally slow at processing things today. By the time I made sure that I'd heard what I thought I did and that my ears weren't tricking me, he was already at the far end of the hall.

"I'll see you around! Ja!" he called merrily before entering his room.

I stood there dumbly and went over what he'd just said. Niou liked sweet potato Pocky? Why would I need- or even want­to know that? And _sweet potato_? Was he serious? Of all the possible flavors to choose from, Niou liked sweet potato. I hadn't even known there was even a flavor that bizarre.

I shook my head, worrying-not for the first time- about his mental stability and questionable tastes.

Figuring he was still on his way since he wasn't in the classroom, I was surprised when the teacher started class moments after I settled my bag down; Niou still wasn't here, and he probably wouldn't be arriving any time soon. Well, if he decided not to show up for me to relay Yukimura's message, that was fine. Less work for me, anyway.

I got out my notes and banished the message to a forgotten corner of my head.

xxxxx

In all honesty, while the second study session was shorter than the first, it wasn't much better.

Like a few days ago, I finished all my other assignments quickly and mostly sat around for the remainder of the time. I wanted to do _something_, but when I saw it was approaching 8, I sighed and sat back down.

I fervently hoped Niou wasn't going to ignore all the reminders I'd given him to be on time at eight o'clock _sharp_. If he was, someone was going to end up with a broken arm. Amazingly though, the doorbell rang just as the clock dinged the hour, and I was glad he had enough sense to be normal for once.

"Gack!"

The odor that drifted in when I opened the door was…not pleasant.

Niou was leaning on the wooden pillar on the porch with his tennis bag, a wide smirk fixed on his face. His hair was messed up, his tennis jersey wrinkled, and he was still breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Most of all, he smelled like a pig. Or a dead frog.

I covered up my nose as inconspicuously as possible while trying to breathe shallowly through my mouth. "What do you think you're doing?!"

He leaned over, picked up his bags, and sauntered into my house; his smirk now morphed into a sly grin. "I'm arriving _on time_, just like you told me to." He continued moving towards the living room, where Kaa-san was going to have a heart attack if she saw something as filthy-looking as he was right now.

"Hey, y-you--!" I spluttered. "You can't come in like that!"

"Why not?" His attempt to sound innocent was totally not fooling anyone.

I didn't want to waste my breath replying to something that stupid, and tried to herd him back outside without actually touching him. He eventually made it back across the doorframe, and I yelled, "Go home and take a shower!" before slamming the door in his face.

There were a few bangs and long strings of colorful words before it finally grew quiet, and I let out a long breath before sagging wearily against the wood.

He was back only a short 15 minutes later, and I was still in my position when he knocked rather too loudly to be considered polite. I looked out from the peephole, making sure he wasn't still a stinking mass, before grudgingly letting him in.

He breezed right past me, now cleaner and dressed more appropriately in shirt and jeans, and I couldn't help but sniff the air as he passed. Some sort of good-smelling scent, whatever it was, wafted towards me- an enormous difference from what he'd been emitting earlier. I approved.

"You could've told me the message that Yukimura was making practice longer today," Niou grumbled annoyedly as we went up.

"What message?" I asked, befuddled.

He threw a scathing glance at me. "The one that he specially told you to tell me."

I racked my brains before dawning on it. "Oh!" I was horrified. "Oh no! I completely forgot about that!" I started fretting and stuttering around for lame excuses and tried to explain it'd really slipped my mind during class while I was taking notes after I figured Niou was going to show up late so the renowned captain of the tennis team would probably hate me now and ignore me whenever I saw him, but would he ever forgive me? You didn't want to be on his bad side, after all.

Niou looked amused when I paused for breath in the middle of my worrying, his eyes lighter than usual. "Stop giving yourself fucking white hairs," he sneered though. "It's Yukimura."

I couldn't stop agonizing, but tried to lessen it as he plunked down his things and flopped lazily on formerly meticulous bed. I sighed.

"Niou-kun, I don't like using my bed until I actually go to sleep," I informed, although not actually expecting him to do anything.

"You bed's soft. Much better than Hiroshi's. I like it."

He didn't see the expression that took over my face, but I tried to compose myself. "Do you mind getting up?"

"Yes."

I gave up.

xxxxx

I yawned, and groaned when I saw only thirty minutes had passed. This was already getting torturous. Math was utterly horrible.

"Ne, Niou-kun," I distracted myself. "Do your eyes change color?"

There was a startled "What the f…"

I hurried on before catching the rest of his phrase. "Never mind." His eyes had definitely been more of a teal shade earlier though, while I was pretty certain they were usually blue. I wondered at that before starting my homework with distaste again.

At half past nine, Niou slothfully rolled off the bed and gathered his bag just as slowly; I attacked the welcome break with wide open arms.

"Where are you going?" He was supposed to stay for another 30 minutes at least.

He cast a detached look my way. "Home."

"Now? It's too early though."

His eyes narrowed, and his voice turned condescending. "Nishikawa, if you were me, you'd want to leave by now too. You're fucking boring as hell when you do homework. You don't talk or sing or hum or _anything_. Even Yagyuu'll say something every 20 minutes when I'm over at his house." He stalked out irately, slamming the door on his way.

I was left stunned and more than a little wounded by the verbal slap I'd just received- and the fact that it had been Niou who'd given it to me didn't make it much better. However, my feelings soon shifted into anger. _Who does he think he is?!_ I stormed, throwing mental darts at him. Just walking out like that-and he was supposed to tutor me too!

Falling onto my bed, I leapt up as if I'd been scalded when I realized Niou had been lying there not 3 minutes ago.

xxxxx

In the middle of the night, I was forced to listen to yet another one-hour lecture. Kaa-san had been coming up to check on me (a mother thing, she claimed), tripped over a mound on the floor, and screamed ear-piercingly before discovering it was just her angelic, sweet, bed-hating daughter.

Figured how Niou could affect me even when he wasn't nearby.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_A/N: I just realized that girls at Rikkai would probably wear skirts instead of pants for their uniform - -T Bear with me here._

_Also, sweet potato is a real Pocky flavor XD I haven't tried it yet, but I actually want to see what it tastes like .._

_Please review! Much love to anyone who does :)_


	6. Chapter 5

_A/N: So…hi ^^"_

_I apologize __tons__ for how I had to stop continuing this story for a while. I actually had most of this chap written quite a while back, but just never really finished and posted it thanks to real life :o But thank you guys __so__ ridiculously much for sticking with the story, even in my disappearance – I got several messages over the months asking when I'd have the next part up and…this is it :) Don't worry about me abandoning this story though; it might take me forever and a day to post the next chap, but I really love/obsess over Niou way too much to ever not finish it. I have a general idea of how I want the story to go; the only problem is finding the time to write and edit it. But like I said, I _will_ have the entire story up eventually. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chap :)_

_Disclaimer: Only Mia is mine. Although I certainly wouldn't mind owning Niou ^^_

* * *

Chapter 5

Friday passed by at a snail's pace, but I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief when the end-of-school bell finally tolled. Hastily stuffing my books into my bag, I bid a quick farewell to Kana before nearly skipping out of the room in joy. It was the weekend! The _weekend_! The word itself even had a nice ring to it, and I couldn't stop the cheesy grin that spread across my face.

As I got caught in the usual mob going home, I saw Yanagi waving over at me nearby and heading in my direction. I waved back. I didn't know him too well and was honestly a little wary of his data fetish, but he seemed nice enough whenever we did talk.

"Hey Yanagi-kun," I chirped brightly as he fought his way over through the hordes of people.

He nodded in reply, and there was a bit of friendly silence between as we trudged along with the crowd. He must've thought it futile to speak above the excited shouts of students, but as the group thinned out, he cleared his throat.

"So I hear Niou is now tutoring you in math?"

"…yeah, he is," I grimaced. "Thanks to Hiroka-sensei. And Yukimura-kun. At least the fangirls haven't found out about this yet."

"Yukimura?" He seemed a little startled at that.

"Mm. Sensei had originally asked him, but he just had to bring up how Niou-kun and I live next to each other."

"Ah, I see." A rustling as Yanagi searched for his notebook. "I presume you've already had one of these sessions then?"

"Two, actually. They didn't go so well, either." I rolled my eyes.

It was really rather amazing how my companion for the time being could dig out a pen and his notebook and be scrawling away in under 10 seconds. It wasn't like he needed the information for some experiment anyway.

"I suppose that's…normal for Niou though," he now stated. "He _is_ quite difficult to get along with at first, but, in truth, he's one of the most intelligent people in our grade."

I was inclined to assert that Niou was a lot more than just "quite difficult", but instead grumbled out, "Hiroka-sensei said something like that about him too." Somehow, my ebullient mood had vanished as soon as we'd started this topic.

Yanagi only nodded again, oblivious. "I used to wonder how he scored so high on his exams when his class grades were so dismal."

"How well _does_ he do on exams?" I asked, just for something to say.

"He scores third every time."

My head snapped to look at him and see if he was serious, as my jaw hit the ground. "You're kidding!" I gasped. No way. No _way_ could that baka get third…

The corner of Yanagi's mouth twitched upwards. "No, I'm not. I'm always first, Yukimura's always second, and he's always third out of the 400 people in our grade. And Yagyuu is fourth after Niou, which irritates him to no end. But it's been that way on all our exams since the beginning of middle school." Then he frowned. "Haven't you ever seen the reports that are mailed home? They list the top 10 scorers."

My legs were going to buckle soon. "No…I haven't, I managed faintly. The past few days had overloaded me with entirely too much new information about Niou already, and the lot Yanagi was packing on me now just shut my poor brain down.

However, it did strike me that I _didn't_ look at the reports. When they came, Kaa-san just usually read my scores and what I'd missed until I begged to be released from the evil clutches of grades; I was smart and usually ranked 15th, but I certainly didn't like school any better than the next person. And as far back as I could remember, I'd never actually picked up one of the reports myself and read it through. I left that tedious task to Kaa-san.

"Well, don't forget there's a math quiz on Monday – it's over what sensei taught this week. I'll talk to you soon," Yanagi nodded to me before departing on his own way, and I blinked woozily before realizing that we were already in my neighborhood.

I collapsed on the futon as soon as I got home.

* * *

If my parents had even considered waking me up, they must've decided not to – my stomach was rumbling when I awoke the next day from missing dinner (my lack of brain activity must've been more severe than I'd thought). Warm sunlight was streaming in through the windows, birds were twittering outside, and it was one of those classic perfect mornings where everything was supposed to be bright and cheery.

How pretty.

I was about to doze off again when a thought came bubbling viscously to mind. _School_.

Oh crud.

My eyes flew open. School! How could've I forgotten?! Why didn't Kaa-san call me up? If the position of the sun was anything to go by, I was probably ridiculously late already.

I scrambled off the comfortable futon, accidentally toppling over a mug of tea on the end table nearby, and dashed upstairs to slip into a fresh uniform. A brush was run painfully though my disheveled hair as I brushed my teeth at the same time, and finally done, I seized my bag on the way down. It wasn't bad timing – only three minutes.

"I'm leaving, Kaa-san!" I called out as I shoved my feet into my shoes, and was halfway out the door when another one of my dinky thoughts occurred to me.

…_Where's my mother?_

The niggling feeling I'd been repressing finally surfaced, and I became aware of the utter silence in the house. Kaa-san hadn't been my usual alarm clock, and unless she was hiding, she definitely wasn't here. I was suddenly paralyzed by the possibility that she'd been taken hostage by a gang of kidnappers (who might've abducted Tou-san too)…before it dawned on me that –

"Aw man," I groaned, facepalming. Of course I just _couldn't_ have recalled it was the weekend four minutes earlier.

Standing in my own little anticlimactic world for a moment, I mentally punched myself when I remembered that my parents went to the market for groceries every Saturday morning, and didn't come back until sometime around noon.

_Then again, maybe this isn't so bad,_ I considered as I went back inside. Swapping my bag for cell phone, keys, and a piece of cold toast, I soon headed out for a little shopping of my own.

* * *

Japanese buses were really into tourism, I reflected irritably as yet another brash and loud foreigner jostled rudely into me. Not only that, but the drivers were insane, making sharp-angled turns at corners and stopping without warning whenever a peddler outside sported something shiny. Taking this kind of public transportation was probably shaving years off my life, and I resolved to ride the train next time.

I got off at the next stop, not wanting to frazzle my nerves any longer, and concluded that it'd be okay to just walk downtown with the nice weather. I didn't exactly have a time limit since I was sure I'd be home in the three hours before my parents came back, and Yokohama was a pretty exciting city anyway. Meandering along the bustling street, I eventually made it to Queen's Square, and enjoyed my window shopping muses to my heart's content. Something was still missing though; I fished my phone out of my pocket and dialed a number.

"Moshi moshi?" The voice at the other line sounded polite and familiar.

"Kana, it's me."

"Hey Mia, morning! What are you up to?"

"I'm in Yokohama right now, at the shopping mall. You want to come join me?" I offered, already knowing her answer.

I could imagine her beaming into the phone. "Of course! I'll be there in twenty minutes. Wait by the Ferris wheel. Ja!"

"Don't take the bus – !" I tried to squeeze in, but she'd already hung up.

Apparently though, I didn't need to warn her after all. I didn't know how she pulled it off, but true to her word, she stepped off the exhaust-spitting bus 15 minutes later, fresh and unpolluted. I probably looked like a mess next to her.

"Did you want to go do something special?"

I shook my head. "Nah, just felt like getting out for a while. I haven't bought anything yet though – the stuff is bloody expensive."

She nodded sympathetically, knowing full well what I meant. Since she was probably the closest thing to a professional shopper herself, she'd experienced her own fair share of costly merchandise (though that didn't seem to stop her from buying them).

"Well…" she considered. "I wouldn't mind if you did some more window shopping."

I laughed at that. She wouldn't mind if we shopped for 10 more hours. "Ok. I haven't gone to those stores down there yet…"

And arm in arm, we jovially set down the grey concrete sidewalk.

* * *

2 department stores, 5 shoe shops, and about 10 million various boutiques later, we collapsed at the nearest café. I still retained most of my money and had bought minimally, but Kana was a different matter altogether. Even after renting one of those 'smart-shopper' carts, she looked like some out-of-season female Santa with the piles of purchases she was hauling around. People viewed her surreptitiously out of the corners of their eyes wherever she went, and the more shops we examined, the more "Miss, would you like to deposit your items somewhere before buying more?" she received from the cashiers. Personally, I thought that was a grand idea…if it hadn't been for the tiny problem that there wasn't anywhere to put them. I just opted for helping her carry some of the bags instead.

"Whew," Kana fanned herself. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

"It might've been better if you didn't have like, fifty extra pounds to lug around," I accused, but smiled anyway.

"You want to go on the Ferris wheel later? I haven't been up in a while."

I craned my neck back to study the wheel, pondering if I had enough money for it, before spotting a flash of white and purple not too far away. White and purple _hair_.

The Fates had to be joking.

I swung back around and grabbed a menu from a startled passing waiter, before opening it hastily and studying it as intently as I could.

"Um…" Kana's voice tentatively floated over to me. "Are you alright? You're hiding behind your menu pretty intensely. I can't even see the top of your head."

"'M not hiding," came the muffled reply. "And don't talk to me for a moment."

"…"

I then had a burst of inspiration and threw the menu down. "We should go," I scooted my chair back and picked up as many of the bags around us as I could with one hand.

"I thought you were tired?"

"I, uh, have to get home to wash the dishes now. No time to be tired!" I patted my pockets to make sure some pickpocket hadn't stolen anything. "Hurry!"

She gave me a skeptical look but complied, thank goodness, albeit with much muttering.

I was in the process of prodding her to go faster and rushing away as soon as possible when the stupid, stupid voice I'd been trying so hard to avoid called out over the distance.

"Oi, Yagyuu, if it isn't Nishikawa and her hot friend."

Curse him for having such a loud voice, and Kana for having heard him. She twisted around curiously to see who had called my name, and turned pink when she realized exactly who the 'hot friend' was.

Next to her, I wasn't having such positive emotions. If auras were visible, mine would be jet black from this hellish coincidental meeting.

I could tell that Niou had no earthly idea what Kana's name actually was, and had just covered that up with one of his "compliments". Clever, admittedly, but that served for me to trust him even less. My hands balled up into fists as well as they could while holding 20 shopping bags, before facing them and pasting on a fake smile.

"Niou-kun, Yagyuu-kun! It's nice to see you," I lied, hoping my eye wasn't twitching or making any other sort of tell-tale movement.

Niou purposely released a gigantic yawn before staring pointedly at a fountain behind us; Yagyuu was more polite.

"Good morning, Nishikawa-san," he greeted, tipping his head at Kana. She must've decided the pair wasn't too bad then, for she trotted over and started chatting with them. Her purchases were left abandoned. _I _felt abandoned.

"I didn't know you two were out too! We finished some shopping, and Mia and I were just thinking about going on the Ferris wheel! Do you want to come?" She watched the both of them expectantly.

"That sounds like a good idea," Yagyuu adjusted his glasses so they glinted in the sunlight. I was kind of surprised he'd agreed – he didn't seem like the type to go on carnival rides. Proof that Niou was infecting him. "What do you think, Niou-kun?" he addressed his doubles partner.

Unfathomably, Niou grinned. "Sure thing, Yaaagyuu," he drawled out, and I suddenly felt trapped as all pairs of eyes fixated onto me – brown, blue, and…pink-glassed. I gulped.

"Now, Mia, weren't you _so_ enthusiastic about leaving the café a few minutes ago?" Kana had on an evil expression. "We can go to ride the wheel now! Sounds fun, doesn't it?" she cajoled.

"I have to go home though! To…wash the dishes!" I struggled to free myself from the vice-like grip she'd clamped on me.

"Oh, pfft. Dishes can wait. But the Ferris wheel!" she exclaimed, eyes shining. "When was the last time _you_ rode it? A year ago? Two years ago?" she asked in a honey-sweet voice.

"I went on it only two _months_ ago, actually," I corrected. There was probably a bruise forming on my arm now.

She just made a dismissive hand motion. "That doesn't matter. One can never ride a Ferris wheel too many times. So you are _coming with us_." She tugged sharply with each accentuated word, and I stumbled over the bags she'd left lying on the ground. Niou's snort at my clumsiness was audible even from here.

I soon found myself gaping at the largest wheel in the area.

It wasn't that I was scared of it – I just didn't want to go anywhere that included Niou Masaharu. Knowing him, he'd snark the whole time and ruin the entire experience…even if he _had_ been pretty quiet on the way here.

Kana was conversing quite animatedly with Yagyuu, and he was replying back with some interest himself. They'd had some sort of discussion about flying moonrocks earlier, and had now moved on to the perils of eating too many roasted cranberries if one was dieting. I sweatdropped and shook my head, not even wanting to get into it. It wasn't a secret Rikkai could be insane at times.

The line was taking a long time. I tapped my foot impatiently and regarded the security guard nearby, mulling over if our purchases we'd placed in his care were safe with him.

Niou was standing alone on the side, hands in pockets, as he lazily studied a voluptuous blond girl wearing a skirt that was way too short for anything I'd ever wear. I frowned and crossed my arms, partly because I just didn't know what else to do with them. Noticing my movement, his eyes flickered over to me.

"What is it, Nishikawa?"

"Don't stare at people like that. It's not nice." I berated myself for using such an elementary word as 'nice' – a word that wasn't even Niou's vocabulary as far I knew.

"Why not? I thought the rude thing was pointing." He raised a silvery eyebrow.

How in the world did he manage to make that look elegant? I huffed out. "You have no manners."

"You have no patience."

"What? Yes I do!" I immediately stopped my foot-tapping.

He noticed this – the bastard – and smirked. "No, you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"Next," droned out the wheel operator.

I glared at him furiously, and reached out for Kana to be my ride partner – only to find that she and Yagyuu had already entered a compartment together, her laughing and him smiling. I disbelievingly let out an indignant "Ugh!". Kana was ditching me? For a pink-glasses-wearing guy with a mop of violet hair? There was something fundamentally wrong about that. But even if I wanted to barge in and push Yagyuu out, I couldn't, since they were already moving up and the next car was waiting.

There was a moment of silence. Then I turned back around.

"I'm _not_ getting in there with you," I declared.

"The hell? It's just a pansy-ass ride. Over in 5 minutes. Puri. " He sounded impatient at my stalling. _Hah. Look who has no patience now._

"No." I blocked my ears from the annoyed whispers of the crowd behind us.

"Get _in_, Nishikawa. If I paid ten dollars for this, I'm going to ride it, dammit." I nearly fell when he shoved me into the compartment.

"That's Nishikawa-_san_ to you," I muttered.

"Whatever."

Clambering inside, I cringed, feeling sickened and claustrophobic at the same time. The walls were painted a garish baby blue, and the compartment itself wasn't exactly what you'd call big. It was hot and sticky, and the seats were peeling. I puzzled over how I hadn't taken note of these things all the other times I'd ridden this. Then again, there hadn't been a 130-something pound growing male tennis player some four or five inches taller than me sitting uncomfortably close all the other times, either.

I tried to scoot as far away as possible as the ride started; it didn't matter that I was basically melting into the framework.

He caught me, of course. "You're not scared of me, are you?"

"No," I answered sullenly.

"Are you sure about that?" His blue eyes mocked me.

"Shut up."

He laughed. "You don't sound too happy for some reason. I wonder why." Then he shifted noticeably in my direction.

"What are you doing?"

He went quiet for a moment, then grinned maliciously. "Nothing, just trying to figure something out." And he moved in even more until he was about an inch away.

"Hey, cut it out or…I'll beat you up!" I blurted out, dying a little on the inside at my oh-so-frightening threat, rather doubtful if I could really do so. But I was actually starting to get freaked out now, with how he was closing the space between us. Things like this didn't occur to me every day, and the way his eyes never left me scared me a little.

Niou didn't pay any attention to me, however, and proceeded to move in even _more_, just mere millimeters away now. My cell phone fell out of my pocket and clattered to the floor, forgotten. His spiky hair tickled my neck, and his lips barely formed the words as he spoke.

"You're so weird sometimes. Have you ever had a relationship with anyone before? Or liked anyone before? Or even thought about what it'd be like to fuck someone nice and long and _hard_?"

My breath caught and I shuddered inadvertently. Holy crap. What was I supposed to do? Did Niou always bring up topics as awkward as this? Was this what his fangirl victims felt like when he did this to them? My brain went blank, but feeling his own hot breath on my ear, I recovered and snapped, "Stop it, you pervert!" I forced him back across the seat, and he mercifully leaned away this time, eyes gleaming as he watched me.

His laughter rang out again, but he instantly turned scornful and patronizing. "You're such an idiot. Did you actually think I was coming on to you or something?" he sneered disgustedly. "You don't need to worry. I just wanted to see how you'd react. Girls like _you_ don't turn me on, Nishikawa-_san_."

I hated him. Hatehimhatedhimhatedhim.

"Know something though? You really are weird. I wasn't kidding about that," he went on, now acting as if nothing had happened.

Anger lanced through me, and I'd finally had enough. "Well, you know what? You're not exactly normal yourself either, Niou-kun," I spat venomously. "At least I'm not the one trying to trick everyone into thinking I'm stupid, when I actually get crazy high grades on tests. I'm not the one running around and bleaching my freaking hair white every other week. And I'm _not_ the one who asks people I barely ever talk to if they've ever 'fucked somebody' before, so Yagyuu-kun can just go screw himself over if he actually likes being around you, because I don't know anyone else that does," I bit out.

His eyes widened at my sudden outburst, and I distractedly saw it once more – the inexplicable way they morphed from a darker blue to a brilliant blue-green.

"Your eyes are changing color again," I mumbled before I could stop the words from tumbling out, and irritation set in again – talking about eye color was hardly how speeches were supposed to end.

"What the _hell_ was that?" Niou had apparently recovered enough, and was now giving me a look like I'd sprouted two heads.

Air whooshed out of my lungs as I then deflated, and I gazed blindly out the porthole window, recollecting myself from the events that had just happened.

"My point is, I'm not that weird compared to you. 'Cause, you know, you're just…beyond weird."

"Feh. You couldn't have stopped me if I was really going to do something to you. I thought you were another one of those stupid weak girls, but then you blew your hair off shouting at me." For some strange perverse reason, I felt a little pleasure that Niou wasn't lumping me in with most of the other girls from school. He continued. "If that's not weird and bipolar, I don't know what is. Puri."

I felt the gentle bump as we came to a standstill, but that wasn't going to deter me. "At least all _my_ hair is still intact, thank you very much," I shot back as I jumped out into fresh air. Kana and Yagyuu walked over, but their grins (Kana's, anyway) slid off when they heard our bickering.

"What is that supposed to frickin' mean? I'm not losing hair or going bald or anything! My hair's just white," he snapped.

"Oh, you probably are going bald, as far as I know. That might be why you have that bald spot on the crown of your head," I answered airily.

"I don't have any fucking bald spots! You-!" He rounded angrily on me, and I darted away lightly, snickering.

And so the day continued.

* * *

I shut the door as quietly as I could, feverishly praying neither of my parents would hear. Unfortunately, though, my mother was standing right in the kitchen, drilling holes into me with her laser-beam eyes as soon as I stepped in.

Swallowing hard, I offered her a weak smile. "Tadaima."

"YOU!" I nearly jumped out of my skin as she bellowed out. "LEAVING THE HOUSE WITHOUT EVEN TELLING US! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?! IT'S 3 O'CLOCK, YOUNG LADY, AND YOUR FATHER IS CURRENTLY OUT TELLING THE POLICE OUR CHILD IS MISSING! YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST ANSWERED YOUR PHONE ALL THE TIMES WE CALLED!"

"You called?" I asked confusedly, and brought out my phone I'd retrieved earlier from Niou; my eyes bugged out when I saw 41 missed calls. Guess who they were all from.

I slid my phone shut, mind racing over as to how I'd noticed all my setting were definitely _not mine_. My wallpaper was a picture of someone's naked butt, for example. And my phone was on silent. I cursed when I remembered exactly who had given me my phone back in the first place, and didn't want to think about _how_ in the name of dear Kami-sama he had managed to capture a picture of someone's rear end in the first place. I willed my face to stop flaming.

"I'm putting you under a month of house arrest," Kaa-san now added frostily.

"House arrest! A month!"

"And you can clean that wooden table you spilled tea all over." She indicated the sponge already there. "I want it _clean_ and _like new_ when you're done. Is that clear."

"Yes," I mumbled, and soon found myself scrubbing away furiously. Tea had a habit of staining.

* * *

_A/N: Queen's Square and the Ferris wheel are real, but I took the liberty of changing them around a little for the story's sake._

_So I'm a little surprised at how this chap turned out, but Niou was just begging me to do something cruel to Mia XD;; poor girl!_

_Hope you liked it :) Reviews would be love!_


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